Vwlss

Weezknight wrote:Well we can talk all day about the so-called "Democratic" process, but it doesn't take away the fact that anyone could be voting. Who is to say that there aren't multiple sock puppets doing the voting?

Several years ago, I used to enter Photoshop contests on a particular website. I eventually quit doing so, because the same people rehashing the same old tired cliches always got the most votes.

Vote with your wallet. Frankly, I don't care if these shirts sold to actual customers or one person with 3,000 alts: they sold out, so someone bought them. Will I be purchasing one? Of course not.

It's been quite a while since I've seen anything on the ol' shirt.woot I wanted to purchase; from the look of things, that trend will likely contine. I'm liking designs on similar sites much better these days.

Snowymartian

NightGhost wrote:Well, I daresay this has been one of the more entertaining forums as of late. If Wooters get this riled up over T-shirt designs, I wonder what will happen when weapons.woot launches?

Now when do I get my "white bunny in a snowstorm" shirt?

I dunno if it will launch, budk seemed to have a pretty good following and selection (tho ot the forums, Woot is bucking the trend forum's wise I think). Add the .com to the 4 letter name above to hit their website.

Get a Woot-Off checker here http://woot.wikia.com/wiki/Woot-Off_Checkers

NightGhost

Snowymartian wrote:I dunno if it will launch, budk seemed to have a pretty good following and selection (tho ot the forums, Woot is bucking the trend forum's wise I think). Add the .com to the 4 letter name above to hit their website.

Huh? That's a knife store, that specializes in cheap knock-offs. I placed one small order from them years ago, and they still send me snail- and e-mail.

edit: Oh, I get it - you were referring to weapons.woot. I didn't mean I hoped it should launch - I was just saying that T-shirts don't seem like much to get riled up over by comparison.

sonicbuddha

Once upon a time there were a lot of cool art shirts here.... now they are all either 'cute' or funny. What happened?

Edit: Looks like I'm not the only one with this complaint. Honestly, I used to buy shirts here all the time (and got regular compliments when wearing) but now I wouldn't even consider it- many look like the cutesy designs you might find on a 10 year old's pajamas or sheets. Boo.

DoublEE

Now by democracy we mean the majority rule or majority chooses what’s best for the whole. However this isn't how democracy plays out in the real world. Its how it plays out here at woot but not in the real world. Take the US system of government, for example.

Please understand I am not politically minded or have the vast knowledge of politics that others may have and I am not making a political statement with this post.

Yes the majority of votes picks or elects the president or many of the other governing roles, however votes in that system from varied states are weighed more than others.

Also there are 3 branches of government. If one branch passes a bill, one of the other branches can veto it. A bill goes through the Senate but gets kicked in the House of Reps. And even then these bills or rules put forward are not specifically voted on by the voters but by their rep or senator they elected in. And even still if the bill passes both houses, ultimately the president can veto it and put it to death.

So what does this have to do with voting at woot?

Yeah majority votes rule, but we need checks and balances in place. The staff should be the president and veto some of the crap that comes through.

They also have to weigh and review the votes. Some "hanging chads" have been reported and need to be investigated and votes clearly re-tallied and have a system implemented so voting issues will not rise up again. Should some votes be weighed more than others? That's hard to say. May p'ss others off. Possibly one's votes could weigh more based on their history of purchases? Possibly when it comes to artistic criticism or input?
Maybe votes can be viewed in two houses as well. Artist choice vs Consumer choice?

Plus if there are laws instituted, enforce them. Don't create them and implement them one time but then take a coffee break on enforcing them the next.

Hopefully some of these comments can be really reviewed and implemented by woot so its closer to a real world democratic process.

Everytime ramby wins we see the same arguments over and over. It's quite simple...people create designs...people vote for the designs they like...if you don't like winning design don't buy it.

If "Audio Emergency" by walmazan or "How it really worked" by amh print I'll buy one or both. If not I'll wait another day until someone catches my fancy.

xpenguin

DoublEE

wolfgaidin wrote:Woot.com's blatant disregard for their own rule for disqualification, ie Similar Shirt Exists, is also what angers me. I have nothing against Ramyb, but this shirt design is not unique.

People keep repeating that it's the democratic process that has allowed this shirt to win, while, in reality, it should never have been allowed to remain in the contest in the first place and THAT is the ONLY issue that truly has significant merit at all.

Do you really get angry? Truly angry? If so I think it may be time to re-prioritize your life.

coryb13

I think some of you missed the humor of the shirt. I think woot was making fun of the fact that imposter was a very similar shirt, yes, but the woot writers also were talking about how adding shades to a walkman and massive headphones makes super old, crappy, tech look cool.

I would like to say, for the record, that I still think big headphones are ridiculously funny looking. No offence to people who like them, they just aren't my style.

loaba

I still don't like this shirt (after a second look, hours later.) I like funny shirts that are based on (usually) clever puns. This artist has lost me, but I expect that's not a big deal. I mean, it did sell out. Lotta people luv'n the penguins...

xpenguin

NightGhost

coryb13 wrote:I think some of you missed the humor of the shirt. I think woot was making fun of the fact that imposter was a very similar shirt, yes, but the woot writers also were talking about how adding shades to a walkman and massive headphones makes super old, crappy, tech look cool.

I would like to say, for the record, that I still think big headphones are ridiculously funny looking. No offence to people who like them, they just aren't my style.

thetrees62

Spiritgreen wrote:As similar as this is in appearance to Imposter, it's actually the opposite of it.

Imposter is about conformity, whereas this is about individuality. So don't buy both unless you have a split personality. ;)

the messages may be different but the but the basic design and idea are the same. they are essentially the exact same shirt and to argue differently is the same as being wrong. And that is coming from someone who bought Imposter and will buy this one as well

coryb13

goldenthorn

Dod0dorkie wrote:damn. i was too late. =/ now not only did i miss impostor, i also missed this impostor look-alike. =(

You... uhhh... well...
Now, I'm not saying anything? Definitely not saying anything. No speech here! But, well, my face? It's definitely saying a lot. With muscles, not words. You know? Yeah.
So, anyway.
You might want to take a look at this. Like, a really good, long, searching, investigative look. Really, go ahead, do it--it'll do you good to stretch those mouse-clicking muscles.
And then, say, after midnight U.S. central time tonight? You could go ahead and click here? I mean, sure, you don't have to. But, like, you might want to? Just sayin'.

midgerock

dangurous

There was a comment already, but it's simple: vote with your wallet. It's the reason my second-to-last shirt was about 12:02 when Fresh Cake was released, and the most recent when our top-selling zombie shirt came out. I was on the ramy-seki bandwagon a long time ago, but cutesy ideas got old real quick. not that i would agree with everything adder would say, but it's dangurous on adder's side of this fence now. two green panda shirts, and now this sold-out abomination.

woot, do something. you have the power to say no. sadly, with the buying power, it's not gonna happen, but it flippin should. it's the reason why you've gotten a lot less of my money than you could have. that said, print Smart Cookie. No. Matter. What. that's a great little cute shirt.

partimejudas

bardolator wrote:Have you ever read a novel in which the author describes a series of emotions passing across a character's face? And have you ever wondered whether it would really be possible to identify said emotions outside print, if the human face is really so mobile that one could "read" each distinct emotion or thought on the face of, say, a highly skilled actor?

derkis

TonyGreyfox wrote:I have to disagree on these points, at least partially. Ramy *has* shown the ability to create some interesting, good-looking and stylish designs that I've seen

Of ramy's so called "stylish," creative designs the majority of them are haphazardly assembled, photoshop textured, "abstract" backgrounds layered over with some incongruous figure/shape in order to remain on theme. This kind of stuff is about as low as the cute-animal trope, and it's only marginally better on account of not being ubiquitous here.

Ramy's other designs are comparatively better, but the bar is set so low by his general output that it's hardly flattering.

His best design, in my opinion, is Give What You Can, and it was posted over a year ago. While it suffers from its own share of problems, what I like most about this is that the composition at least feels integrated. The figure looks like he belongs in the environment, whereas in Fear of the Dark it looks like little red riding hood was completely rendered before slapping on a background/ominouspoorlyalignedshadowwolf as an afterthought (perhaps he lifted it from a previous project?). The drawing of the girl itself looks amateurish and flat, especially compared to the chalk-drawing man.

Spiritgreen

thetrees62 wrote:the messages may be different but the but the basic design and idea are the same. they are essentially the exact same shirt and to argue differently is the same as being wrong. And that is coming from someone who bought Imposter and will buy this one as well

Sure, personally I -am- surprised Woot didn't cut it for being 'similar to a current shirt'. But they didn't because they wanted it, and clearly lots of voters wanted it too, and now as we can see, lots of customers wanted it just as badly.

Woot is happy, and the voters and customers are happy, so I'm not arguing a case for or against the shirt printing. Just pointing out the irony in people buying both shirts when they mean different things. :^)

derkis

crevelingma wrote:So I guess "real artist" Claude Monet didn't paint a lengthy series on the cathedral at Rouen? Or Hokusai only did one view of Mt. Fuji?

The difference being that these artists were capable of manipulating their media to evoke diverse emotions, were not entering these pieces into a popularity contest (rather they were highly personal labors-of-love), and were breaking new ground artistically rather than pandering to contemporary cliches (Impressionism was pretty ballsy, so I hear).

The comparison of what ramy does to what Monet did or what any other artist does when creating a series of paintings/drawings/etc is absurd.

NightGhost

derkis wrote:The difference being that these artists were capable of manipulating their media to evoke diverse emotions, were not entering these pieces into a popularity contest (rather they were highly personal labors-of-love), and were breaking new ground artistically rather than pandering to contemporary cliches (Impressionism was pretty ballsy, so I hear).

The comparison of what ramy does to what Monet did or what any other artist does when creating a series of paintings/drawings/etc is absurd.

I have to disagree on that point. If I say "an amoeba has a cell membrane, just as the cells in my body do," I am not implying that an amoeba is intelligent. I think the OPs intent was that even great artists created similar works, so why criticize a T-shirt artist for doing the same? He was not saying that a T-shirt artist is in the same class as a master painter.

Geniekid

nowikissyou wrote:I do not get this hate, I really don't. If woot! is a business and makes more money when they cater to the most customers, having the popular vote to pick the winner makes perfect sense.

While I do enjoy the write up and the juicy Internet drama that keeps unfolding, it saddens me that so many of you are swift to dismiss the current democratic process and put up your little mustaches while hailing Sieg Woot! because you are elitist pricks incapable of accepting other people's taste in tshirt art.

emeraldchickpea

lostnightsoul wrote:Most times remixes turn trash into treasure. Sadly this is not the case. Sadder still is that this got the most points, and more than likely sellout and being in the top 20 for who knows how many weeks.

Acquired Taste currently shows 5105 units sold at one week 21 hours on the market and it reckoned in 1st place its first Monday. Shall we make these two prints a test case and run the numbers every week at this time?

emeraldchickpea

So, seriously....just get rid of the "don'ts" list completely. To my mind, it stifles creativity. If a submission is so very awful, it won't get the votes to print in the first place. If it does get the votes, then it's going to sell. Get over it.

I can see the reasoning behind the restrictions. They are there to try to make/point/force the submitters to actually "think outside the (same old) box" and stretch out their creative muscles.

However, some submitters seem to go to great lengths to challenge the restrictions to the max in order to SOMEHOW force the same old same old through yet again.

sonicbuddha

I point this out not as a troll but as a comment on the general discussion. If we're to look to popular culture to see where voting with our wallets has brought us, I'd point out yet another Fat Mama movie, Justin Bieber, and the majority of prime time TV. Capitalism generates income but rarely forges forward with truly interesting art. There is nothing wrong with these things but a diet of just the common denominator is, well, flat. Imposing variation may bring greater creativity, attract more interest, widen the community. Oh, and we can get cooler shirts for more people, too. ;)

radiomode

crevelingma

derkis wrote:The difference being that these artists were capable of manipulating their media to evoke diverse emotions, were not entering these pieces into a popularity contest (rather they were highly personal labors-of-love), and were breaking new ground artistically rather than pandering to contemporary cliches (Impressionism was pretty ballsy, so I hear).

The comparison of what ramy does to what Monet did or what any other artist does when creating a series of paintings/drawings/etc is absurd.

It's a tee shirt contest. We should all save the posturing for Art History 101.

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